After failing to live up to the hype in 2015, mobile payments should embrace multi-modal biometrics to provide ease of use and the security consumers seek, according to Lux Research. High costs, however, remain an issue. A prudent mix of biometric technologies running on smartphones offers the best opportunity of clocking growth rates of over 200% in 2016, it argues.

“Companies developing biometric authentication products need to build partnerships or innovate and consider multimodal biometric platforms to stay in the game,” says Tiffany Huang, Lux Research Associate. “It is hard to see one biometric usage winning in the medium- to far-term.”

Palm vein is flagged up as the most secure but cost is a barrier. Iris scan is ideal for online purchases. However, high cost limits adoption, and the required sensors are not found on the majority of mobile devices. A combination of facial and behavioral sensors comes in second in ease of use.

In short messaging service (SMS)-based payments, user ease is the driving force, but security takes a back seat. As in WAP, iris scan is the ideal solution for SMS but high usability from other devices can be a threat. Multimodal biometrics, integrating technologies like facial, voice and behavioral scans, can be competitive as well.